Chapter 1 #3
In the center of the room, Thanatos stretched his wings, flapped them once, and folded them neatly behind him.
He turned and scanned our chamber, looking at each of us in turn: my sisters, who seemed to stare right through him, and then me.
He met my eyes, and I felt myself melting slightly under his gaze.
Thank goodness it seemed he hadn’t brought the scythe.
“Cyrie!” Alex prompted loudly, and I snapped to attention. “What are you looking at? Go on—tell us about the man! What was he doing? What did he look like?”
The “man” in question was now flitting about the room with impossible speed, stopping in front of each of my sisters, frowning and waving his hands in front of their faces.
When he got to Sophie, he actually put his arm straight through her.
And all she did was give me an annoyed look when I didn’t respond quickly enough. “Well?” she urged.
I gulped. Thanatos looked back at me and tilted his head to the side, sporting a puzzled expression.
In an instant he flickered out of sight and reappeared across from me, reclined on the lounge beside Zoe.
He laughed in that deep, melodic voice and raised a perfect blond eyebrow. “Yes, what did you see?”
No one else heard him.
“Oh, gods damn it!” I spat out. I bit my tongue, tried to collect myself, and continued slowly.
“Sorry, sorry,” I said carefully, shaking my head.
“It was strange, that’s all. I saw a man.
He sort of just appeared in the room in front of me.
He was looking right at me, but he seemed surprised that I was looking back.
” I tried to make it appear as though I was facing Zoe instead of side-eyeing the couch next to her.
“Okay, describe him!” Alex said impatiently. “Come on! Surely this vision was important. Were you supposed to know who it was?”
I stared across the room at the god in question, who was chuckling at my predicament.
I let out a sigh and fixed my eyes to a spot on the floor.
“He was…beautiful,” I admitted, willing the flush out of my cheeks.
“Inhumanly so. I…he’s difficult to describe,” I stalled clumsily.
“I don’t think I’m able to.” If pressed, I was definitely going to leave out the wings and the scythe.
“How strange,” said Sophie. “Do you think he was a god? With a message, or a prophecy? Did he say anything?”
“I…I really don’t know who he was,” I lied. “He just said…all he said was that he’d be back for me.”
“Do you think it was Apollo?” Alex squealed, causing Thanatos to burst into laughter. “Maybe he was speaking in riddles,” she continued, oblivious to his snickering. “Was it like your old prophecy?”
I dropped my head into my hands, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room. “No, it wasn’t like that,” I groaned. “No one was speaking through me. More like…to me? I don’t know. I don’t understand.”
Noticing my despondency, Zoe crossed the room and hopped onto my bed with me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. I glanced up in time to see Death propping his feet up rather rudely on the newly vacated cushion.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Zoe said earnestly. “Lots of heroes heard riddles from the gods! We can read and try to work it out. We can start in the morning!”
I leaned against her, thankful for the support, but kept my gaze fixed to the floor. “I’m not a hero, Zoe. I’m probably just cursed, or crazy. I thought that after the last time, too, for a while. Maybe it’s true.”
Sophie scoffed loudly. “Come on. Why are you always doing this to yourself? You are a seer, not a knower of all things. The gods hardly ever speak plainly, but we can find the answer. In time.”
“Do I even have any time?” I wondered aloud. I dared to meet the eyes of Death, who remained casually reclined on our couch. He gave no indication, save for an eerie smile.
Before anyone could respond, I threw my hands into the air and jumped down from my bed. “I need some air,” I announced. “We can think on it tomorrow. I…I’m going for a walk.” I hurried out the door, shooting a pointed glance at the “empty” portion of our lounge as I did so.
My sisters would be worried for me. In fact, they probably thought I was losing my mind. I would deal with it later. Right now, I had a singular focus, communicated in a glance to the god who inexplicably haunted me. Speak to me.
I ran down our tower’s staircase a few steps at a time.
It would have been impossible to walk with my heartbeat pounding so loudly in my ears.
I flew through the temple complex and across its courtyard, not stopping until I reached the sprawling outdoor prayer gardens.
There, I continued through to the far side, where I found a tall oak tree to lean upon, out of sight.
I knocked my head against its trunk a couple of times as if this would magically set my mind at ease.
But I knew it wouldn’t help. I could ponder for years, and Zoe could read as many scrolls as she could find, but there was truly only one way to know what all of this meant.
The stillness of the garden surrounded me. Alone in the night, I closed my eyes and drew a shaky breath.
“…Thanatos?” I asked into the empty air.
“Yes?”